L’Hospitalet-près-l’Andorre (French pronunciation: [lɔspitalɛ pʁɛ lɑ̃dɔʁ], literally L’Hospitalet near the Andorra; Occitan: L’Espitalet) is a commune in the Ariège department of southwestern France.
The area has a history of vulnerability to winter avalanches: one such in 1895 killed 12 (nearly 10% of the commune’s population at the time), and much destruction was also caused in 1906 and 1929. Avalanches have from time to time blocked the N20, the main road through the commune, the most recent case being in 2008.
The Andorre-L’Hospitalet station – served by TER Occitanie regional trains between Toulouse and Latour-de-Carol and the overnight Intercités de nuit service between Paris and Latour-de-Carol – is an important international transport node for the nearby principality of Andorra, to which the station is connected by a bus link.
The village has a Mairie from which local government is organised. There is an elected mayor. The office is currently held by Arnaud Diaz.
There is a hotel in the village centre, the Hôtel du Puymorens, which has both a bar and a restaurant open to non-residents, and available to local residents. There is also a small guest house in the main street, operated as part of the French Gîtes system, with a small shop for essential supplies. There are few businesses trading in the village, although there is a small engineering company. There is a primary school, whose buildings include a residential youth centre for visiting groups. A school bus visits L’Hospitalet daily to transport older children to secondary school.
Roman Catholicism is the only organised religion in the community. There is a parish church, with churchyard, in the main street. Although the village has no resident priest, services are held regularly.
Encamp (Catalan pronunciation: [aŋˈkam]) is one of the parishes of Andorra, located on the Valira d’Orient river. It is also the name of the main town in the parish. Other settlements include Vila, El Pas de la Casa, El Tremat, La Mosquera and Les Bons. As of 2004, it has about 11,800 inhabitants. The centre of the municipality lies 1,226 metres (4,020 ft) above sea level. The highest mountain in the parish is Pic dels Pessons (2,865 m or 9,400 ft). It borders France and Spain.
The parish contains the lake and dam of Estany de l’Illa in the Gargantillar hills at an altitude of about 2,500 metres (8,200 ft).
Encamp has an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification Cfb). The average annual temperature in Encamp is 9.8 °C (49.6 °F). The average annual rainfall is 805.4 mm (31.71 in) with May as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in July, at around 18.9 °C (66.0 °F), and lowest in January, at around 2.1 °C (35.8 °F). The highest temperature ever recorded in Encamp was 36.0 °C (96.8 °F) on 29 June 1935; the coldest temperature ever recorded was −16.0 °C (3.2 °F) on 2 February 1956.
The Route nationale 22 (RN22)[1] is a highway in southern France, connecting l’Hospitalet-près-l’Andorre to Pas de la Casa in the Principality of Andorra. On the French side of the border at Pas de la Casa, the RN22 also connects to the Envalira Tunnel (Catalan: Túnel d’Envalira), which is an alternative route into Andorra avoiding the Envalira Pass (Catalan: Port d’Envalira).
The road is a branch of the N20, and runs parallel to the RN320 which crosses Col de Puymorens. The roads follow the same route for a few kilometers.
This road has only been called the RN22 since 1975 when there was a general downgrading of the road network, before which it was called the NR20b. Formerly, RN22 was a section of the current trunk road N11 between Mauzé-sur-le-Mignon with the La Rochelle and a section in La Rochelle to the Port de la Pallice and the landing stage of the ferry to the L’île de Ré.
In winter, avalanches sometimes close the continuation of the road below Col de Puymorens — the N20.
CG-2 (Carretera General 2) is a road of the Andorra Road Network that connects Escaldes-Engordany to the border with France.
This road starts at the Encamp roundabout, CG-1 and ends at the Dos Valires Tunnel in the French border (N22). It is also called Carretera de França.
The Dos Valires Tunnel (Tunel de les Dos Valires) is a major road tunnel in Andorra linking the two upper Andorran parishes of La Massana and Encamp. It is 2.922 kilometres (1.816 mi) long.[1] The tunnel connects Generals Roads 2 and 3 linking the Valira del Nord (North Valley) and the Valira d’Orient (East Valley). It is the first stage of the northern bypass of Andorra la Vella/Escaldes-Engordany.
The construction of the tunnel was started in 2005 but was halted in 2009 after one of the viaducts at the La Massana entrance collapsed and killed 5 Portuguese construction workers. The tunnel cost over €160 million to build and it is estimated that 2500 vehicles per day will use the tunnel.
Authorization for bicycle circulation inside the tunnel
Mobilitat authorizes the passage of bicycles in both directions…….